


Just a Tad Too Tall

by peachykeen66



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Blood and Injury, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Henry Bowers Being an Asshole, Homophobic Language, M/M, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier Whump, Stabbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:42:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22888642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachykeen66/pseuds/peachykeen66
Summary: Had Richie been a few inches taller, or a foot shorter, he would be in a completely different situation right now.-OR- AU where Richie is the one attacked by Bowers instead of Eddie.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 146





	Just a Tad Too Tall

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, yeah, I know! I once again hurt Richie Tozier and I’m sorry for doing so but my brain is demanding that it must be done! So enjoy whatever this is. I wrote this on my phone during my commute to work so excuse any weird grammatical issues throughout!
> 
> Also, the tags do say homophobic language because Bowers is in this so just look out for that. It’s only in here about 1-2 times but I wanted to give y’all a heads up just in case!

The door slammed shut behind Richie as he walked towards the staircase. Bev and Ben were talking quietly among themselves as he approached. 

“Move.”

Neither seemed to be in any hurry to get out of the way.

“ _Move_.”

Bev stood up, clutching the banister. “What’s wrong?” Ben got up immediately after. 

“I’m leaving.” Richie’s fists curled inside his jacket pockets as he marched up the stairs. 

Remembering Bowers— both of them— at the arcade, seeing Pennywise. It was too much; he didn’t want to deal with this shit. He was supposed to be in Nevada performing shitty stand up in front of a few hundred people, not reliving the childhood trauma he gratefully forgot about.

“Wh-what man? You can’t leave, we all split we all die!”

Ben started up another step or two but Richie tried to mentally block him out. 

“Yeah i’ll take my chances. We’re gonna die anyway.”

_Sorry Haystack, there’s no way i’m sticking around for more of this shit. My odds with the fucking clown are better far, far away from Derry._

“Rich!”

Richie rounded the corner, ready to head towards his room and pack when the door to his right swung open, and Eddie stomped outside. His face was soaking wet and his shirt had dirt—sludge?— all over it. Behind him he heard Ben’s footsteps finish coming up the stairs. 

“Are you serious right now?” Eddie’s hands were on his hips and, despite his sour mood, it almost brought a smile to Richie’s face.

“Am I serious about what, Eds?”

He heard the door slam shut again downstairs,  _probably Bill_ ,  and saw from the corner of his eye that Ben headed back downstairs.

_Guess we both know how this is gonna end._

“You’re just gonna up and leave us all here in this shithole to kill Pennywise ourselves? What the fuck man! I always thought you were a dick but not  _this_ much of one!”

As Eddie ranted his hands progressively got wilder and more frantic, chopping the air and waving around in the space in front of him. Richie so  _desperately_ wanted to leave, but as soon as he saw Eddie’s face pop out of the doorway he knew what his decision would be. 

“I’m not actually leaving, asshole. I never was.” 

Eddie’s brow raised in shock, “You fucking with me?”

“No, you know I would never actually leave you guys.” He shrugged, fists still balled into his pockets. “I’m just dramatic, you know me.” 

Eddie stared at him a moment, analyzing him, before nodding. 

“Yeah, yeah I know that. Shit man, sorry. I just got worried.” Eddie smiled before punching Richie lightly in the shoulder. “I can’t do this without you, ya know.”

Richie felt his face heat up and ducked his head down as he nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, alright man.” He looked up and grinned. “I really think it’s just the fact that you’d be lost without my striking good looks, Eds.”

Eddie rolls his eyes and starts heading back into his room. 

“Ugh, nevermind, fuck off out of Derry please.” The door starts to close behind him. “Also don’t fucking call me Eds!”

Richie laughs as Eddie disappears, and heads towards his room, opening the door and going inside. He tosses his phone onto the bed and sits a moment, sighing to himself.

_ Of course it was Eds that made me stay.  _

He thinks about Stan again, as he has done quite a bit on this trip. 

_ If I can’t do it for the other Losers, i’ll do it for you Stan the man. _

Richie rubs his eyes under his glasses and stands, heading towards the bathroom. He’s barely paying attention as he opens the door, until his focus snaps to a short, greasy man in green scrubs standing in the doorway. 

“It’s your time, Richie.”

Before Richie can even begin to  _ process  _ that information, said man’s arm is swinging towards him. He feels metal slice through flesh and blood and muscle, and he watches dazed as the man lets go of the knife, giddy at his work.

The man, who Richie is almost certain is Henry Bowers, is short, almost the same height as Eddie, and swung the knife straight out in front of him. Had Richie been a few inches taller, or a foot shorter, he would be in a completely different situation, but right now, as he tried to say something,  _anything_ ,  to his old high school bully, all he could feel was blood pouring out around a switchblade embedded into his neck.

Richie grabbed at the blade, belatedly hearing Eddie’s voice in his head yelling , _don’t take it_ _out dipshit!_ and opted to hold it in place, trying to put pressure on the wound and backing away from Bowers.

“Eh-es...”

His voice was nothing more than a few gasps as he tried to call out to Eddie, who was only a room away.

Blood pooled around the palm of his hand as he continued stepping backwards, hitting the edge of his bed. Bowers walked forward, circling the bed, back facing the front doorway of the room. 

_ Guess i’m not getting out that way. _

Bowers began laughing, watching Richie  still try to process what exactly was happening.

“Your time has come, Richie.”

Richie stumbled around the edge of the bed to the nightstand, leaning against the wall for support. His eyes never left Bowers’, as he grabbed the first thing he felt on the stand, chucking it at the bully.

The glass cup shattered on the wall near his head and Bowers laughed louder, taking a step closer.

“Time for the fairy to float.”

At that, Richie started to panic, gasps gurgling out of his throat. He grabbed the corded telephone, yanking the wire out of the wall in one go and again, throwing it at Bowers. It made contact with the door, slamming against the wood loudly. He reached for something else, blood still trickling down his neck as he pressed against the blade. Bowers came closer and as Richie held up the bible to throw, a fist pounded against the door.

“Rich? Richie you alright?”

_ Eds, thank fucking christ. _

Neither him nor Bowers said anything, just watching each other. Henry’s smile never left his face, and Richie’s gasps started getting wetter as blood seeped out the sides of his mouth.

More pounding against the door, as Eddie tried to turn the doorknob to no avail. “Richie you’re freaking me out  _ open the fucking door!” _

Bowers swiveled himself so that he was facing the door. 

“You think wheezy’ll get in here?”

Richie’s heart lurched. Something slammed into the door. 

_ Eds is trying to break the damn thing down. _

Richie faintly heard his friend yelling out, “Ben! Ben! Get up here  _now_!”

Footsteps trampled upwards.

“Maybe this’ll save me some time.”

Something slammed into the door again, but the wood began to splinter down the middle. Bowers laughed, snapping his attention back to Richie, who was still clutching the bible. He was corned, and was panicking, and _someone_ was going to die because of Henry fucking Bowers. 

“What do ya say Bucky, two fags for the price of one?”

Richie’s eyes widen and he lets out a strangled yell. Blood spills out of his mouth as his voice is morphed by the blade still lodged into his neck, and he flings the book. The Bible hits Bowers square in the face as one final slam breaks open the door.

Eddie and Ben rush in and Bev peaks in from the doorframe. They all freeze as they take in the scene in front of them.

The last time Eddie had seen this much blood, he was surrounded by his friends, gripping his inhaler tight as he cleaned Bev’s bathroom mirror.

Looking now, blood was on the floor, covering the bed, and smeared onto a broken telephone laid out on the floor. Sure, the sight freaked him out, but what scared him the most was how much was on Richie who was wide eyed and squatting on the far side of his bed, leaning against the wall. He was gasping and pointing at the other unknown figure in the room. One look at the stringy blonde mullet and all three of them knew exactly who it was.

“ _Bowers_?”

The man in question turned, laughing as his nose gushed blood, staining his crooked teeth red. He waved before rushing across the room and into the bathroom. Ben followed immediately, as Eddie rushed to Richie, who now fully slid down the wall and was sitting upright against it.

“Holy shit, Rich, what the fuck happened?”

Eddie couldn’t tell where Richie was bleeding from, immediately kneeling down to check his torso and abdomen. 

“Christ dude, can’t even spend two fucking minutes alone without some other shit coming after us.”

He didn’t get far into his search before looking up and seeing a shiny  _ something  _ sticking out of Richie’s neck. It was around the same time he realized Richie hadn’t said  a single word.

“R-Rich, what the fuck is that?” His hand ghosted over the handle. 

Blood was still dripping passed the wound as the knife moved with every shuttering breath Richie took. Blood stained his yellow shirt and was caked underneath his fingernails. The sight made Eddie want to gag for multiple reasons, the main one being:  _ this is Richie Tozier . _

He was staring slightly passed Eddie, not fully focused on what was happening in front of him. With one hand, Eddie grabbed Richies face, slapping it lightly, the with the other, he pressed against the wound in Richie’s neck, handle placed between two of his fingers.

_He’s already lost so much blood._

“Buddy hey, you gotta look at me.”

_He can’t afford to lose anymore._

Ben came running out of the bathroom in a huff.

“Bowers jumped out the window, I couldn’t—“

Ben finally saw Richie. Somewhere behind them, Bev screamed. It snapped Eddie back into reality.

“Ben, Ben I need a shirt, o-or a towel, or something! Anything!” Ben ran off to grab something from Richie’s duffle bag, as Bev yelled out, “I’m calling an ambulance, don’t move him!”

Eddie pressed harder against the wound. Ben ran up, tossing him what appeared to be a T-shirt. Eddie muttered “thanks” under his breathe, as he attempted to wrap it tightly around Richie’s neck without displacing the knife.

“Alright, okay don’t worry Rich, we’re gonna fix this. You’ll be okay, alright?”

Richie didn’t say anything except for a few harsh rasps forcing their way out of his mouth.

Eddie hears Ben take over for Bev on the phone, rabbling off an address and presses the wound tighter, causing Richie to whine. Blood is already seeping through the thick cotton shirt. 

“Okay, so it seems like if we just keep pressure you’ll be fine. He got you good Rich, but I don’t think it hit an artery so you’ll be completely fine in no time.”

“5 minutes Eds!” Bev yells out, and Eddie nods, grateful that for once in this  _godforsaken town,_ something may go his way.

“Hear that? The doctors will patch this up and you’ll be back to blabbering on and on as usual, yeah? Guess we should enjoy the peace and quiet while we have it, eh bud?”

Richie’s lip quirked into a smile and tears started to form in Eddie’s eyes because his friend—his  _best friend_ — looked so  _bad_ . He should never look this weak. It seemed that Richie came to the same conclusion himself because he started mouthing something that Eddie couldn’t figure out. 

He leaned in, “I can’t hear you man, just try to stay awake, okay? You can tell me later.”

But Richie, stubborn as always, latched weakly onto the arm Eddie had pressed against his neck and exhaled a quiet, 

“Eds...”

Eddie shuddered out a sob.

“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you Rich, don’t worry, j-just, stay awake, okay?”

He could barely see passed the tears that now fell down his face and distantly heard someone run out of the room. At the same time, Richie’s eyes began to close. Eddie’s hand squeezed Richie’s neck tighter.

“Hey, I told you to fucking  _stay awake_ , okay?”

Bev cried out for him somewhere to his left as Richie’s hand fell from Eddie’s arm. With his free hand, Eddie held onto it.

“Wait, wait, wait, Richie, hold on man, they’re gonna be here soon.”

Richie didn’t open his eyes.

“Richie, wait for me,  _please_.”

“Eds, they’re coming up, you gotta move!”

Eddie shook Richie.

“Richie!”

Ben grabbed onto Eddie and moved him so the EMT’s could reach Richie, but he didn’t seem to notice, staring transfixed at Richie’s chest waiting to see him inhale, waiting to see if he just passed out or if—

“Ben, sit him down over here.”

Eddie was manhandled onto the floor by the bathroom as four men began crowding Richie. All Eddie could do was watch as Bev clung onto him and hope,  _pray_ ,  to whatever God was out there that Richie would make it.

_Richie has to make it. I don’t know what i’ll do otherwise._

An EMT runs and grabs a defibrillator, barking orders, and Eddie brain seizes over one continuous thought that plays over and over in his head. 

_It should have been me._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This idea kept bugging me so I knew I had to write it down at some point! Let me know what you thought, I’d appreciate it! :)


End file.
